ST JJ Abrams to direct Episode VII

If Abrams had never existed I don't think TV would be in as good a place as it is right now. He's pretty creative and original when it comes to TV shows but all his films are sequels or homages - I love Super 8 but it's clearly the result of "what if there was a movie that was Jaws + ET + The Goonies?". I haven't seen anything from TFA to make me doubt him, and I'll continue to look forward to films he makes in the future, but his filmography isn't original in the least.

 

We will never agree. Phantom menace is still from a series which he created and that's amazing
But to many including me its a bad movie. To me Abrams is someone who gets what made the original movies better which is why some are excited. You really like the PT movies so we will never see eye to eye. Even Abrams has acknowledged that he's done a lot of sequels in known series and he'd love to start working on origin stories and that was one o the reasons he originally didn't wanna do Star Wars. I look forward to that moment.

Difference of opinion is a good thing, everyone having the same taste would be boring. Hopefully we both find things we can appreciate in the new series. For now let's just as you saod agree to disagree.

 

It doesn't need to be in this case, he's continuing a franchise. If he wants to make himself a wholly original franchise than he should. Even Star Wars copies a lot that came before it but imo is way better.

 

Abrams directed the pilot of Lost and it was amazing! I also enjoy his Star Trek movies.

So I think this movie is going to be epic.

 

What? You're not supposed to like JJ's directing. He's the debil.

 

Lulz.

 

JJ seems like a logical choice as director, especially from Disney's point of view. As people have noted he is good at homages to past works and Disney needs to prove that they can make a Star Wars movie. But, JJ is also good at casting and directing actors, which is also good since we need to be invested in these characters for two more films. He's solid on suspense and creating compelling scenarios as well, so all in all I think that he has the right tools to make a great Star Wars movie.

A trilogy will suit his writing style better than stand alone films and TV series. He will have more room to work with than in a 2 hour movie, allowing deeper world building and characters, but he will be working within a set amount of time so he won't need to manufacture mysteries just to keep things going.

The first installment needs to get us invested in the story, care about the characters, and to feel like a star wars movie. I think he can pull that off. We will see how he does this December, but I doubt that anyone will agree on the verdict.

 

He is a logical choice. I don't notice anything extraordinary or genius about his directing but he's at least competent. Most of the people I would consider better would be polarizing, and may not necessarily "get" Star Wars or want the job.

As a screenplay writer, no idea. Looking through his writing credits nothing jumps out at me as a great example of good writing from what of it I've seen, plus they're mostly shared credits where it's harder to isolate and evaluate him.

I know Kasdan is also a writer on TFA, but he's written some pretty awful movies lately (we were among the 10 people who saw the Kevin Kline dog movie and and wow did that suck). I hope he has some of the old magic left in him.

 

JJ is mr reboot/homage were going to walk out of the theater in dec thinking wow that movie was just like ANH, it will be received well because of the action and cinematography. The true fandom will see it for what it is a complete remake with updated graphics, the plot sounds almost identical to ANH with a few ESB twists and I read MSW description of the third acts space battle sounds like ANH/ROTJ. He seems to disregard the PT and I'm not a huge PT fan but that is half the saga. TFA will be JJs OT homage flick episode 8 is where I see a new take on SW.

TFA can still be very fun but like all his movies I'll watch thinking this is pretty epic then wake up the next day and forget most the movie.

 

Star Wars has always been, imo, about the characters. The story is usually fun an adventurous but nothing amazing. It really is the galaxy and the characters that inhabit it which makes Star Wars.

JJ's biggest strength as a director IMO is just that. He gets a ton out of the actors and really makes you feel like your in the world he's portraying.

Which is why I was a fan of the hiring from day one.

 

Man, I wish I could accurately predict my reaction to a movie 5 months before it comes out, based off 2 teasers and some plot leaks.

 

It is sounding (and looking) sort of remake-ish in the broad description, but we have virtually no dialogue or character interactions to observe.

This disregarding the PT thing seems a little overblown. Most of what George Lucas created for the Prequels served its purpose in the Prequels. For the things that weren't important enough to be carried into OT era set 20 years later, why would they be relevant another 30 years beyond that?

 

JJ's generally accepted ability both to 'get' Star Wars and to bring the best out of his actors fills me with enormous hope for this film. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the real Han Solo back for the fist time since ESB.

 

You have an odd way of judging success, achievement and overall contribution. If someone asked you about Henry Ford, would you say “well he revolutionised the automobile manufacturing/production processes in the early part of the 20th century and gave us Ford cars, but after that he was rubbish”? Or, “yeah Paul McCartney was good in The Beatles, but his solo stuff was crap. I think Dave Grohl is much better cos I liked his last record”? Etc. Lucas will be judged on giving us/and being a significant contributor to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, American Zoetrope, Pixar, ILM, THX, Skywalker Sound etc. Abrams can only be judged on his contributions to date, which (IMHO) is, at this juncture, a footnote compared to much more accomplished and ‘serious’ filmmakers. Doesn't mean that Abrams can't go onto bigger and better things... but I personally don't see it (although I wish the fella well). I’d have been quite happy for Abrams to just get the directing gig... so it’s not as if I have any real issues with him as a director per se. My concerns are more with him as a filmmaker i.e. his wider contributions.

Sure, I want to enjoy the ST as much as you and the next person... but ultimately, I think we’re looking for different things out of it. An element of me thinks, ‘well the ST shouldn't be for me, it should be for new fans whether I like it or not’... and to a large extent, that’s probably more important than you or me liking it.... or it being a direct continuation of the PT or OT. We’ll see...

 

At the same time, I think it's a little unfair to judge directors on their ability to make culture-changing phenomenons like Lucas did with Star Wars. You could probably count the number of directors who did such a thing on 2 hands if that.

There are way more directors in this world who will achieve nothing close to that, which are still good directors.

 

i don't think anyone was stating that only those who have a CV of cultural changing films are fit to direct a Star Wars film. This was more about refuting the suggestion that Abrams is 'better' simply because one doesn't like the prequels.

 

I think it's more about who's better now. Nobody can refute that Lucas had tremendous success, and made tremendous contributions to the film industry. But, many people feel that his directing abilities have waned in the past 15 years or so. So while I 100% agree with the praise you've given him for his past accomplishments, I just don't feel he would be the best choice to make a SW movie today. Is Abrams? I don't know. But Abrams seems to have the energy and enthusiasm that, sadly, I don't think Lucas really showed in his past few films.

 

I'll say it: IMO, Lucas is by far the more creative of the two. However, I think Abrams is the better director. I think we're going to get one of the most competently directed SW films in a long time.

 

Even though Lucas is in the top 1% when it comes to making highly successful movies, I don't know that anyone would want him directing some other movie. Say, hiring Lucas to direct Mission Impossible 6, for example.

Lucas was able to craft and make a movie about his own unique creative imagination and pioneered the ability to bring it to life. I don't know if it says much about him as a director, per se.

 

I don't think it's about not liking the prequels. It's just about majority of his movies since Return ( IMO ) have been bad. Whereas, I prefer Abrams output consistently. Sure he never had a Star Wars moment but like others have said, a big cultural moment like that is rare with filmmakers. Abrams may never have that moment but to me it doesn't make him a less talented DIRECTOR. I happen to think his direction is just better.

For me it seems like Abrams/Kasdan have been mining a lot of ideas Lucas has had in the past and using some of them for this movie and this series. In the end i'm just happy Star Wars is back. I didn't care for the PT but I was happy watching them knowing we had more Star Wars to look forward to and whatever the outcome is for the new movies I will feel that same exact way....

Happy for more Star Wars.

 

I feel the same way.
And, I get the impression that many actors do, too. I hear a lot of praise for how JJ works with them, but with Lucas, the praise tends to be more about his great imagination, not so much his ability to work with actors.

 

Personally speaking, I thought Revenge of the Sith showed that Lucas could have made pretty good sequels... he seemed to be getting more confident with each one... and there's every reason to believe that Ep VII would have been better than ROTS. So I think this is much more around 'style' than anything else. I certainly think a Lucas directed SW film would have been better for having an established writer working on the script, or alternatively, a Lucas story with him as exec producer with another director. And I certainly think Abrams is more able to direct a film that is deemed more contemporary (stylistically speaking). But I think directors and filmmakers often get accused of making inferior films as they grow older, (this has been levelled at Hitchcock, Lean Ford and Kubrick) when often what is meant is that they are less able to make something deemed 'contemporary' or 'fashionable'. And the risk with something designed to be overtly popular, or current, is that it's stock can fall quite quickly as tastes change.

 

Being a good/great director has little to do with how much of an actors director they are. Many of the most influential directors are famous for treating actors like cattle.

 

They have an established write on the script with Kasdan who arguably worked on the best star wars movie.

Harrison Ford who is very capable of speaking his mind also said how great that script is....While I agree Lucas got better with Revenge it still had it's flaws to me and I still feel Abrams would deliver better DIRECTION, and with Kasdan we will get a great script.

In other words, I think the series is starting off with a very very good combination of talent where it will all compliment each other much like the original movies.

 

Yeah Ford said that about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull... But again you approach this from the perspective that Abrams isn't a flawed filmmaker. I personally think he's deeply flawed. So yeah, both or flawed. Lucas' best film is ANH, Abrams is Super 8 (in my opinion of course).